Doomsday Pillars

DDay +35. Washington USA

The White House is the official residence and workplace of the President of the United States. The white palace-like building is located in the heart of Washington, the capital of the United States.

The whole 100 square miles of the federal district of Columbia including the White House to the north, the Lincoln Memorial on the west and the capitol building on the east that is connected with Washington monument, a base lies on its center. It has been turned into a survivor’s basecamp.

Hundreds of temporary tents have been set up on top of the lush green yards. Thousands of fully armed military soldiers can also be seen guarding the perimeter of the gates. Thousands of people; men, women, and children are trusting their life to these soldiers.

The White House has been turned into a command center. Within the blue office, groups of people have gathered for a meeting. Most of them are military officers and high ranking soldiers.

Although the oval office is bigger and has a better view of the surroundings compared to the blue office, it seems that none of these people are interested to gather in the room where the President has passed away.

When 80% of the population got infected by the disease, most of the government officials died within the first 24 hours. Fortunately, the United States has a Presidential line of succession system. When the President and the Vice-President got infected by the disease, the fourth in line which was the Secretary of the State took over the position. The chain of command has been instantly reestablished.

Two weeks ago, the newly elected President and all of the remaining government officials have left the building and relocated to a more secure base.

Currently, this dozen of people that had gathered in the blue office was left in charge of the Washington district to secure and take in as many survivors as they can from the surrounding areas for as long as possible.

It’s dark outside and the sun has set, but the screams and gunfires are echoing constantly in the area. Everyone in the room is fully armed, these people have gone through a lot of sleepless nights to keep the area well defended.

A man in his 50s, who is wearing a military uniform, appears to be the colonel that is leading the meeting.

"How many units have returned today?"

"22 units, 9 units are still unaccountable, sir."

"How many new survivors?"

"345, sir."

"..."

The colonel turns silent, he thinks over their situation for a while. There are more than 7 million people living in the Washington district. In the last 30 days, his battalion has managed to secure more than one hundred thousand people. Every day, the transports would come to pick up thousands of civilians and send them into another survival base outside of the city.

The number of survivors they are recovering each day from within the city is dwindling, but the colonel is sure that there are hundreds or even thousands more still holding out somewhere within the city. Therefore, he kept on sending rescue units outside.

Today’s result though is probably the worst. Not only they found only 300 plus people, there are 9 army units are unaccounted for.

"Men, listen up!"

"Roy, tell us the order from the President."

Roy is the guy wearing a suit, he is the CIA’s deputy director. He decided to stay behind two weeks ago to help.

"We have received the news that today the Baltimore city basecamp has been overrun. Tomorrow, they are predicting that the incoming hordes from the north will be multiplied."

"The President has given the order to evacuate, it’s imperative for everyone to leave the city before noon tomorrow."

"..."

"Sir, will they send extra transport for tomorrow?"

"No, they will not, it will be the usual pick up."

"..."

Everyone in the room turns silent, all of these people understand the consequence of this order. There are still more than 10,000 civilians in the base, include to that the soldiers, there are at least a total of 12,000 men. The transports will not be enough to evacuate all of these people, even half would already be considered fortunate.

"Ok men listen up, I know we are all tired, but I need every man to give their best for one more day! Tomorrow when the last transport comes, we will prioritize all women and children first, the rest of us will follow on foot together."

"This order might be for the best, we have been encountering more and more of those red monsters."

The colonel then gives a sign to the young man who is standing next to the CIA’s deputy director. The man then quickly hands over a small pouch to each of the men in the group.

The young man said to the group,

"Remind the soldiers to only consume a maximum of 16 stones, more than that it’s useless."

This junior analyst seems to know much of the situation, everyone in the room finds him very interesting.

The colonel continues,

"You boys already know what this is. This crystal stone will increase our chances to survive, share this to all your troops. God bless us all tomorrow, and God Bless America."

"HOOORRAA!!"

Apparently, the intel they have received is inaccurate. By the break of dawn, massive hordes of zombies have already surrounded the districts.

Tratatatatatatat!!! Tratatatatatatta

KABOOM!! KABOOM!!

Gunfires and explosive are raining towards the waves of undead, but it seemed like for every one zombie that dies three more would come as a replacement.

"Where are the transports?"

"They are unable to push through their usual passage, there are too many zombies, they must reroute, ETA one hour."

"!!!"

"Those red monsters are everywhere! Get everyone to regroup near the White House, we will make our stand there!"

Tratatatatatatatat Tratatatatatatat

"Colonel! They are here!!"

"Roy, handle the evacuation, do it fast!"

These are convoys of tanks and trucks, at most, only 5,500 people could fill up all the space, the rest would have to walk.

The officer in charge of the transport approaches the CIA deputy director.

"Sir, our order is to retrieve the army, you are our priority!"

"No, the army will follow behind, get more civilians inside!" 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Roy orders his junior analyst to go along with the survivor’s group.

"With all due respect sir, I will stay here, give my spot to someone else."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, sir!"

A moment later, another group transport convoys have arrived, but this one is a much smaller group.

Two dozen men walked out of the convoy fully armed, many recognized them from their uniforms. It’s the delta force. They are the most elite of the special forces unit. Only tasked with the most special missions, they approached the man in charge.

"We are here on a highly confidential mission, I hope that you can help us."

"Yes, Lieutenant what do you need?"

"We are looking for someone. A CIA analyst named Kenny."

"..."

Roy, the CIA deputy director, was startled because the name they mentioned is his staff next to him.

"I am Kenny."

"You are Kenny? The one who was assigned with the task to follow up on the investigation on the Doomsday video in Singapore last month?"

"Yes, that’s me."

"That’s great! Our mission is to retrieve you out of the city."

"Me? why me?"

"We only know the higher up is looking for you."

"Can’t we just move out together along with the rest of the men?"

"No! Our order is clear. You must come with us now!"

Kenny looks at his boss Roy, not sure what to say...

"Go! It is an order. We’ll be just right behind you."

Kenny was hesitant, but he still followed what his boss said.

"Ok... Let’s go."

Kenny went inside a vehicle and they drove really fast, followed by the transports. A few minutes later,

BAAAAMMM!!

The vehicles drove through an object in the middle of the street, they seemed to be in a hurry.

"Aren’t you guys driving a bit too fast?"

The Delta force personnel gives him no response, one of them reaches out to the radio,

"The package is secured. We are out of the red zone."

"..."

"Wait, what do you mean red zone?!"

The lieutenant stared at Kenny and said, "Let us hope they manage to get out in time."

The vehicles have passed by the hill, the federal district, the White House and the monument can still be seen in the distance, but suddenly

A sound like a roaring thunder can be heard screaming on the horizon, follow with it a second of silence... Kenny unconsciously followed the source of the sound and stared at it blankly. It’s the White House... A bright white light covers all of its vicinity and then follows another thunderous sound...

KAAAAABBBBBBOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!

Kenny stares at the distance and cannot believe what has just transpired... As an intelligence officer, he knew what kind of bomb was used. "Fat man" It’s an atomic bomb with the equivalence of a 23-kilotons of TNT.

Black dust were now raining all over the remains of what was known as the Washington districts... Along with the 5,000 men left in the area.

All the men he fought with together for the last 30 days... All gone...

"The Olympus has fallen."